Arab MK arrives in Damascus with his party members, sends alarming message that 'Israel may launch onslaught in bid to restore deterrence'

Roee Nahmias |Published: 09.09.06 , 19:46

National Democratic Assembly chairman, Knesset Member Azmi Bishara, arrived in Damascus on Friday and immediately began making public statements condemning the Israeli occupation of the territories.

Bishara joined his party members, MKs Jamal Zahalka and Wasil Taha, as well as former MKs Muhammad Kanan and Mohammed Miari, who have been in the city since Thursday.

In the course of his meeting with senior members of the ruling Baath party, Bishara warned Syria of the possibility that "Israel launch a preliminary offensive in more than one place, in a bid to overcome the internal crisis in the country and in an attempt to restore its deterrence capability."

During the meeting, Bishara lauded Syria's support for the national rights of the Palestinians and Lebanon, and stressed that the motivation

for the "American-Israeli attack" against Syria lies in Damascus' firm stances. "Syria is the last barrier standing before the strike," MK Bishara said. "The Palestinians living under the occupation have long realized the importance of adhering to the Arab option, in light of the scope of adventurous attempts to hurt their cultural and Arab identity," he added.

In an interview with the Syrian news agency SANA, Bishara expressed support for Syria's position and the struggle it was conducting for "the liberation of its occupied lands." Bishara also stated that Syria had been put "under pressure due to the fact it has stood by the resistance and rejected the American hegemony in the region, because it insisted on freeing the occupied Arab outside the 1967 lines, and because it has stood up for the nations' right o resist the occupation."

During the interview, Bishara declared: "We are Syria's allies and will continue to be in contact with it on the national level, through our well-known views."

MK Zahalka explained that the visit in Damascus "was aimed at expressing solidarity with Syria, as well as discussing the recent developments in the region, particularly following the wild Israeli aggression against Lebanon."